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Roland Martin

Binge-watching is lame and lonely

This may sound absolutely crazy, but binge viewing and not being able to share with others is sort of like television masturbation—you are the only one who gets to be satisfied. Sorry, I need to have the exhilaration to enjoy it with someone else (and about 450,000 on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook).

On the first night, I watched three episodes of Cards, and would have loved to tweet, Facebook. But I couldn’t. Instead, I had to stay quiet out of fear of someone saying, “Don’t be a spoiler!”

Oh, I get the same when Scandal is on, but that only comes from my friends on the West Coast. At least I can communicate with my folks on the East Coast and in the central time zone about Olivia Pope, Harrison, and Daddy Pope. Thursday nights are now our ritual. We get hyped to see the next episode and wait with anticipation from the moment one episode ends and another it so air.

But what happens when I watch Cards all in one weekend? That’s it. It’s over. No savoring. No “ooh, what’s gonna happen next week.” Nothing. Nada. You watch it, then keep your mouth shut until a lot of time pass before you can even talk about it. Now you’re forced to wait so long to discuss it that by the time enough folks see all of the episodes, you’ve forgotten what the hell happened and you’ve moved on to something else.

For example, I recently found out that much (not all, unfortunately) of the older Doctor Who episodes are on Hulu Plus. I’m probably going to watch the 6 “Web Planet” episodes this weekend.

Is this “binge watching”? And if so, how long do I need to wait before talking about them? They’re only from 1965… should I wait until a full 50 years after their original air date to make sure I don’t release any spoilers?

I kind of get what he is saying, but at the same time, I think it’s kind of lame that so many people rely on TV shows to be able to communicate with one another in the first place. I’ve gone to parties with friends I haven’t seen in quite some time, and if you haven’t been keeping up on Sons of Anarchy or Breaking Bad, or The Walking Dead, or Game of Thrones, or whatever, there’s nothing to talk about. And with so many shows on TV, it would be hard to keep up on everything, even if I wanted to. I would suggest the author put down the remote and go form more meaningful relationships with other people. Though, these days, I can see why that’s easier said than done.

On the first night, I watched three episodes of Cards, and would have loved to tweet, Facebook. But I couldn’t. Instead, I had to stay quiet out of fear of someone saying, “Don’t be a spoiler!

Not a problem for me. I have not desire to use FB or Twitter and don’t have cable TV, so anything I watch has likely already been seen by everyone I know (typically they introduce me to it). Since I don’t watch regularly, when I do, I binge. I guess I treat it akin to reading a book. I watch till I’m satisfied or life pulls me away.

We just “binge watched” Vikings. We didn’t even know it existed until we caught an ad during another TV show. Now we are caught up and can watch the new season. Last year we “binge watched” the Walking Dead which was another show we had not been watching. We often wait until a season is over for something like “Top Shot” and “binge watch” it on a weekend. I don’t see anything wrong with the so called “binge watching” and one advantage is fewer or no commercials.

If I binge watch old episodes of QUEER AS FOLK, is Roland Martin going to “slap the ish” out of me?

The worst article I’ve read all week.

I despise most of reality television, preferring scripted fair.

Scripted fair? Who writes like that?

Sorry, I need to have the exhilaration to enjoy it with someone else (and about 450,000 on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook).

Note how he manages to work in his social media following. I’d like to read an article about how people who dislike binge viewing are status obsessed and other-directed.

I prefer to watch House of Cards as if I’m having dinner with friends at The Palm: don’t rush through the appetizers to get to my entrée; let the flavor of the steak or Chilean sea bass set in’

Who the hell writes a sentence like that? And watch out for the angry emails about your taste in fish, Roland. Chilean Sea Bass is a liberal no-no. But then, you should have known that at the first tweet.

I don’t see anything wrong with the so called “binge watching” and one advantage is fewer or no commercials.

Lucy43 on February 20, 2014 at 9:21 AM

Another advantage is that you already know whether or not the series has been picked up for multiple seasons. I don’t even like to bother with new shows since so many that I’ve liked have been canceled after one season. Of course, the irony is that if everyone did what I did, no show would ever make it past the first season.